IEBC spent Sh1000 to register each voter after listing extended
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials register students of the University of Nairobi (UoN) as voters on October 13, 2021. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NMG
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) spent Sh1,000 to register each voter during the three days that the High Court ordered an extension of the mass listing exercise.
The commission was allocated Sh1.2 billion out of the Sh4 billion it had requested to carry out the exercise.
IEBC registered 1.519 million new voters by the end of the exercise, compared to a target of 6 million for the four-week exercise.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) spent Sh1,000 to register each voter during the three days that the High Court ordered an extension of the mass listing exercise.
The IEBC told the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) that it spent a total of Sh72 million during the three-day extension period.
Murjan Hussein Marjan, the commission secretary told MPs that the commission netted less than 100,000 voters in the extension period.
The High Court ordered the IEBC to extend the countrywide mass listing of voters after a Kenyan moved to court seeking the continuation of the exercise. The IEBC challenged the case due to insufficient funds.
IEBC had no option other than to follow the court's order to extend the deadline for new voter registration, which had expired on November 2.
The poll agency had initially said that it will not carry on with the exercise even by a single day due to budget constraints, despite a court order extending the registration to November 9.
“We did not realise significant figures after the court forced us to extend the mass listing for another three days. We spent Sh72 million, about Sh1,000 per voter to list less than 100,000 new voters,” Mr Murjan told the committee chaired by Kieni MP Kanini Kega.
The High Court sitting in Eldoret on November 1, 2021, issued exparte orders prohibiting the commission from closing the national voter registration that was scheduled to end November 2, 2021
The commission was allocated Sh1.2 billion out of the Sh4 billion it had requested to carry out the exercise.
“We spent a whooping Sh72 million or about Sh1,000 per voter due to a decision made by one person sitting at the High Court. In fact, the person who went to court is a registered voter seeking to have IEBC register unknown persons,” Mr Kega said.
IEBC registered 1.519 million new voters by the end of the exercise, compared to a target of 6 million for the four-week exercise.
